August (2016) Running Challenge

August goal.....run

8/1 3.12....and I struggled through that!
8/2 snorkel 4 hours
8/3 life
8/4 more life
8/5 3.15
8/6 4.00
8/7 lazy (can't blame life) (however, I DID mow the 2 acres and muck out the chicken coop, so I wasn't a complete slug....)
8/8 5.83
8/9 snorkel 3 hours
8/10 3.2
8/11 snorkel 2 hours
8/12 3.30
8/13 3.57
8/14 rest
8/15 4.10
8/16 In the immortal words of @mbaker566 ....nope
8/17 5.87

Total 36.14

Upcoming races:
SHEPower Virtual Half: July 18
Las Vegas RocknRoll Virtual 5k runs--making the band
......Guitar Solo 6/28 3.85
......Drum Solo 7/21
......Lead Singer in August or September
Las Vegas RocknRoll Half 11/13/16

Ticker is my goal for 2016 and accumulation to date:

Embrace the suck folks. It's only the first phase of the complain/accept/improve cycle our body has and you can't skip any

Date.....Distance..Type/min/km

August 1 - 6.6 km - V.Easy/7:00
August 2 - 7.4 km - Reps/4:00
August 3 - 7.6 km - V.Easy/6:50
August 4 - 6.4 km - Easy/6:15
August 5 - 12+4km - Tempo&Reps and Easy/4:50
August 6 - 5.0 km - Easy/6:05
August 7 - 10.4km - Long(ish)Run/6:17
August 8 - 3.6 km - Easy/6:00
August 9 - 6.0 km - Easy/6:07
August 10- 10.2km - Speedwork/4:20
August 11- 6.0 km - Tempo/4:45
August 12- 8.0 km - Easy/5:55
August 13- 9.4 km - Easy/6:30
August 14- 12.8km - Long run/6:00
August 15- Rest
August 16- 11.0km - Time trial/3:59
August 17- 8.0 km - Easy/5:50



03/04: Bucharest 10k and Family run 48:28
16/04: Color Run Bucharest
17/04: Forest Run 5k 22:05
04/06: Happy Run 5k 21:57
22/07: Bucharest After9Cross 9.5k 49:03
28/08: Fox Trail Half Marathon (10k)
18/09: Baneasa Trail Run (10k)
25/09: Black Sea 10k
09/10: Bucharest International Marathon (Half Debut)

mom3over40 wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

Stoshew71 wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

cljoe7 wrote: »

Orphia wrote: »

@Elise4270 Been there, done that, ran out of brain bleach to try and forget it!

Bwahaahaa! Cracking up at the "brain bleach" comment. I could definitely use more of that! @Elise4270 I think you should go somewhere with year-round beautiful running/ swimming weather...no humidity, mosquitos, polar vortexes....is there an actual place like this on Earth? Definitely avoid Chicago area/ midwest US in general...

I half looked for a job this morning. Nothing looked promising. It has to be somewhere with a refinery, idk or something I can do without a pay cut.. Maybe Washington state or Oregon where Oiselle is. Wait. Aren't there bears that way? Alabama and Florida are absolutely out too. What about Tennessee? Lol!

DH is in recovery. Brain bleach sounds great (margarita style). So I may have to sneak around like a teen.

@luluinca You're here. You're a runner

Come on, you would love Alabama. Well northern Alabama. We are 90 minutes from Nashville. So kind of Tennesee. Actually if I drive north for 20 minutes, I cross into the Tennesee border. But running is big here. Very fun and supportive environment. You could join a race within driving distance just about every weekend if you wanted to. Heck, most of them I could run to. LOL

We have no bears around that I am aware of, but there were a few coyote sightings.

Well, I did a job search and there are opportunities. Makes me regret not finishing that Masters degree in chemistry. I'm making ~90k with a B.S. (hard to walk away from. That's dumb luck, I'm not that smart. Okay yes I am). It does sound like an ideal area. I bookmarked a few jobs.. DH is over being mad at me for the moment... I really could use a running community. We have coyotes here too. They don't bother me. My dad's family is in Alabama.... So tempted.

Think I'll make sure my resume is updated in case something comes along I can't pass up. Or until dh gets mad at me again

Not sure about the job market on your line of work, but as far as running friendly, I think my neighborhood is pretty nice. We also have a race nearby almost every weekend. But here in San Diego, we do get whinny about weather, we start to say "too hot" before it hits 80F and "too cold" when it gets below 60F

I'm with you there @mom3over40! I am in No Central Orange County and we whine as well about the temps but it is much nicer in San Diego! Also there are SO many races in San Diego and a great running community. If a similar one exists up this way I have yet to find it and there are not nearly the races there are in San Diego!

3rd August - 7km
4th August - 12km

8th - 5km
10th - 5.5km
11th - 3?km aprox.
13th - 5km
14th - 2km It turned into a walk when it got too steep and then my mum called me, so I never got to finish my run

15th - 5km
16th - 7km
18th - 14km trail marking day!

Logged 16km; might have covered an extra k or two, but plenty of walking.
Did it over the whole day, couple of different sections. My brother and I mostly drove the car to the far end of a section and worked our way back along the trail. Lots of hills and super pretty!
I want to the 20km trail next year!


63.5/100km

Should have said the aleve was for my migraine. It was gone by mile 5

8/17 - 5k race.
32 miles done with goal of 70.

cljoe7 wrote: »

When does this get easier? More enjoyable (as in, at all enjoyable)? Today's run/ walk in the park sucked but I stuck it out. Temps were ok, but humidity was high & my breathing was tough despite the advair, nose spray, albuterol...ugh... My thoughts went from "why the *kitten* am I doing this again?" to "this sucks. I'm not a runner, who am I kidding?" to "I guess I can stick it out..." to "*kitten*-it, no I can't" to "whew. Finished." I try to push out all the negative thoughts, and I feel good (physically & emotionally) for having done it, but man. If I stick with it, at some point it won't feel torturous-to-tolerable and I'll actually enjoy running...right?

I am one of those people who runs, but I am not in love with running. I've been a "runner" off an on (because of injuries) for just about six years, now, and I still do not necessarily like it. I do it so I can drink beer and eat nachos and not be 350 lbs. At 5'4" and 145 lbs, I just squeak into the "healthy weight category," and at the ripe old age of 32, I have been diagnosed with hypertension despite my running efforts (thank you wonderful genetics). I like to think that running is helping keep me off medication, which is something I fight for every time I have my BP checked, though I'm not sure how much longer any doctor will allow me to convince them I don't need meds. Running is also the most convenient form of aerobic exercise for me, since I don't have a road bike, I hate all aerobic gym equipment, I don't have the space at home to do any kind of videos, and I oftentimes have a hard time fitting an aerobic class I like into my schedule. As far as races are concerned, I register for two reasons:
1. I like the atmosphere of races, and I like to use it as a consistent and official measurement of my abilities.
2. They provide the motivation I need to keep running because I don't want to get to a race and either make a *kitten* out of myself or finish last (or anywhere near last, to be honest).
Still, I still almost always have the same thoughts you do when I'm out there, and I cannot ever wait for the run to be over, whether it's 3 miles or 13 miles. I may be the exception, but at this point, I'm not entirely certain I will ever really like running.

TattooedDolphinGirl78 wrote: »

My cat is part squirrel, so she would freak if I tried to: A) put a leash on her, and go outdoors. lol

This is my girl cat. She freaks out when I put the harness on her, and she freaks out even more when I take her outside - she stays low to the ground, ears back, meowing, crying, and trying to scratch the door open to get back inside. I call her "anxiety cat." She has issues with change and new things. For example, every year when I remove the Christmas tree after the holidays are over, she sits in the corner where it was and sulks for a few days. She's really pretty pathetic!

Elise4270 wrote: »

Well, I did a job search and there are opportunities. Makes me regret not finishing that Masters degree in chemistry. I'm making ~90k with a B.S. (hard to walk away from. That's dumb luck, I'm not that smart. Okay yes I am). It does sound like an ideal area. I bookmarked a few jobs.. DH is over being mad at me for the moment... I really could use a running community. We have coyotes here too. They don't bother me. My dad's family is in Alabama.... So tempted.

Think I'll make sure my resume is updated in case something comes along I can't pass up. Or until dh gets mad at me again

Um...I want to do what you do! I make about 65% of your salary WITH a masters that I paid for completely on my own, which I will be paying off for about the next 28 years. I thought my MBA would allow me to advance and get ahead. I was nearing 30, and decided I better just bite the bullet and get it instead of waiting for an opportunity for someone to pay for it for me (or at least part of it.) I appear to have been very wrong in my assumptions, though I am actively seeking new employment. Fingers cross it actually gets me somewhere this time, because my current job, which I accepted just over two years ago, appears to be another giant, boring dead end. I guess this is what I get, though, for residing in middle-of-nowhere, Pennsylvania, and attempting to relocate with the promise of a job waiting for me is proving to be quite the difficult task.

5512bf wrote: »

My gym has all the treadmills set to shutdown at an hour. There are like 50 of the silly things and at least 10-15 always available. I tried in vain to get them to unlock a few to unlimited so I could do longer speedwork sessions but corporate refused. I found the manual online and reset one on my own one day, then like 2 weeks later they rearranged the gym and I couldn't find it again. Fortunately it was almost spring so I started back outside. If you look up the model number of the treadmill there are instructions online to get them to go longer. It only took a few minutes to get to the menu and do it.

Hacking a treadmill - I love it! My last gym had giant signs all over the place requesting people adhere to their 30 minute time limit on all cardio machines. I completely ignored said signs unless there appeared to be people actively waiting for an open machine. I am currently gym-less, but I will be joining a different one whenever I decide I need a gym, again. I have no idea what their cardio machine rules are, but the few times I've been up there for classes, there always seems to be quite a few treadmills open. I will definitely keep this little tip in mind if they put time limits on the things.

ddmom0811 wrote: »

@MNLittleFinn - nice run! I'm no expert but I don't like to take advil or aleve before a run because I'm afraid it might mask something that is hurting. My son was a pitcher and took advil before pitching one game and pulled a ligament that required Tommy John surgery. So I think I am just nervous because of that.

I find this interesting. After each of my hip injuries, I was actually told by both my PCP and my PT to take one Advil before a run and one Advil after to keep any swelling in check. I rarely ever do it, anymore, but I was for a while after I recovered from the injuries. I am a very anti-drug-unless-absolutely-completely-necessary kind of person, so I tend to avoid meds when I can help it (see BP reference above).

I enjoyed the run today as weather was cool and windy.
18/8/16 run 7.1 km
16/8/16 run 3.1 km
9/8/16 run 6 km
2/8/16 run 7.1 km
1/8/16 run 6.6 km


Target: 29.9/70 km

mom3over40 wrote: »

But here in San Diego, we do get whinny about weather, we start to say "too hot" before it hits 80F and "too cold" when it gets below 60F

Went out to San Diego a few years ago in June, expecting, ya know, beachy weather.

BRRRRR! We didn't get out to "the beach" until after friggin' 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and had to pack it in because SWMBO was freezing by 4. And I was playing in the surf, but had to rent a blinkin' wetsuit, and still like to have froze my twig and berries off. And I was still a "large mammal" in those days, so had a well-functioning interior furnace!